AUSTIN - In a landmark vote that will shape the future education
of millions of Texas schoolchildren, the State Board of Education
on Friday approved new curriculum standards for U.S. history and
other social studies courses that reflect a more conservative tone
than in the past.

Split along party lines, the board voted 9-5 to adopt the new
standards, which will dictate what is taught in all Texas schools
and provide the basis for future textbooks and student achievement
tests over the next decade.

Texas standards often wind up being taught in other states
because national publishers typically tailor their materials to
Texas, one of the biggest textbook purchasers in the country.

Approval came after the GOP-dominated board approved a new
curriculum standard that would encourage high school students to
question the legal doctrine of church-state separation - a sore
point for social conservative groups who disagree with court
decisions that have affirmed the doctrine, including the ban on
school-sponsored prayer.

Before the final vote on the lengthy list of standards, the
board's five Democrats criticized the Republican majority -
primarily social conservatives - for injecting their political and
religious views into the standards and giving short shrift to
important minority figures in history.

Republicans called the standards a major step forward that will
boost instruction in history, government and other social studies
classes.

Regarding the complaint that Republicans and conservative
ideology have been given more prominence, board member Don McLeroy,
R-College Station, said the panel was trying to make up for the
liberal-slanted curriculum now being used in schools.

"I think we've corrected the imbalance we've had in the past and
now have our curriculum headed straight down the middle," said
McLeroy, one of seven social conservatives on the board. "I'm very
pleased with what we've accomplished.

Board Democrats accused the Republicans of a "cut-and-paste" job
on the standards that included a flurry of late amendments undoing
much of the work of teachers and academics who were appointed to
review teams to draft the curriculum requirements last year.

"Here we are trying to approve standards for our children that
will be used for years and we are being asked to approve all these
last-minute cut-and-paste proposals," said Mary Helen Berlanga,
D-Corpus Christi.

"I don't think any teacher would accept work like this," she
said. "They would have thrown this paper in the trash. We've done
an injustice to the children of this state."

Board member Mavis Knight, D-Dallas, called the proposal a
"travesty."

"The board has made these standards political and had little
academic discussion about what students need to learn," she said.
"I am ashamed of what we have done to the students and teachers of
this state."

Several Republicans left the board meeting room while Democrats
laid out their objections to the document, but returned to defeat a
Democratic effort to delay action on the proposal until July. One
Republican, Bob Craig of Lubbock, supported the delay motion.

Board member Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, was absent for both
votes, on postponement and then final adoption.

Democratic lawmakers and other critics have suggested that when
a new board of education takes office in January - after two social
conservatives have been replaced by more moderate members - the
board should reconsider the standards and make substantial
changes.

Asked about that possibility, McLeroy said there is nothing to
prohibit such a move, but he contended that "when people look at
what we've done, they won't find much to change."

Most experts say it is unlikely that the board will revisit the
social studies curriculum - unless Democrat Bill White wins the
governor's race this fall. If that happened, White would appoint
the education board chairman, who controls the panel's agenda and
could put the issue back before the board next year.

Change would be unlikely if Gov. Rick Perry wins re-election.
The last two board chairs appointed by Perry were part of the
social conservative bloc - McLeroy and current Chairwoman Gail Lowe
- who strongly support the new social studies requirements.

In addition, state Education Commissioner Robert Scott warned
against further delays since the new standards are scheduled to be
phased in to classroom instruction in the 2011-12 school year.

Board member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, another social
conservative, opened Friday's board meeting with an invocation that
referred to the U.S. and its history as a "Christian land governed
by Christian principles."

"I believe no one can read the history of our country without
realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have from
the beginning been our guiding geniuses," she said.

Before approving the standards on Friday, board members adopted
scores of additional changes - including the restoration of Thomas
Jefferson's name to a list of political philosophers that students
will study in world history. Board members had come under criticism
for removing Jefferson's name earlier this year though they pointed
out that Jefferson would still be studied in other areas of the
curriculum such as U.S. history and government.

Board members also adopted a standard that calls on high school
students to "compare and contrast" the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment - barring establishment of a state religion - with
the legal doctrine of church-state separation that emerged from
U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

"We need to have students compare and contrast this current view
of separation of church and state with the actual language in the
First Amendment," said McLeroy, who like other social conservatives
contends that separation of church and state was established in the
law only by activist judges and not by the Constitution or Bill of
Rights.

Knight led opposition to the proposal, saying it "implies there
is no such thing as the legal doctrine of separation of church and
state" despite numerous rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and
other courts that have firmly linked the requirement to the First
Amendment.

The curriculum standards adopted by the GOP majority have a
definite political and philosophical bent in many areas. For
example, high school students will have to learn about leading
conservative groups from the 1980s and 1990s in U.S. history - but
not about liberal or minority rights groups that are identified as
such.

Board members also gave a thumbs down to requiring history
teachers and textbooks to provide coverage on the late U.S. Sen.
Ted Kennedy while the late President Ronald Reagan was elevated to
more prominent coverage in the curriculum. In addition, the
requirements place Sen. Joseph McCarthy in a more positive light in
U.S. history despite the view of most historians who condemn the
late Republican senator's tactics and his view that the U.S.
government was infiltrated by Communists in the 1950s. INS AND OUTS
OF TEXTBOOK STANDARDS

Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall: Experts appointed by social
conservative board members recommended that the labor leader and
Supreme Court justice be stricken from the standards, but the board
opted to keep them in.

Christmas: A curriculum-writing team dropped Christmas from a
list of important religious holidays in a world cultures course,
but the board ordered it back on the list.

Conservative groups: The board voted to require that U.S.
history students learn about leading conservative individuals and
groups from the 1980s and 1990s. There is no similar requirement
for liberal individuals and groups, although some are included in
the standards.

Thomas Jefferson: After striking him from a list of political
philosophers in the standards for world history, board members
responded to widespread criticism and placed the nation's third
president back into the standards. Jefferson's writings on
government will now be studied alongside those of John Locke,
Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Rousseau and other political thinkers.

McCarthyism: Social conservatives pushed through an amendment
that requires a more positive portrayal of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and
his claims that the U.S. government was infiltrated by communists
in the 1950s. McCarthy's tactics have been discredited by most
historians.

Rock 'n' roll and hip-hop: Students will have to study a list of
influential musical and cultural movements in America that includes
rock 'n' roll, Tin Pan Alley, country music and the Beat
generation. Social conservatives beat back an effort to include
hip-hop music after some members complained that its often-crude
lyrics are inappropriate for students.